A Car in Space?

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, is pushing for another space race. In fact, he wants companies to create ambitious goals and think outside the box (or planet in this case!) when it comes to space technology. But he’s not just talking the talk—he’s also walking the walk. Earlier this week, his company sent Falcon Heavy, a huge launching rocket, into space with an interesting piece of cargo. But before we get to that, you might be wondering why sending a rocket into space is even interesting—hasn’t it been done before? You’re right. But for years, only government space agencies sent rockets into space and even though SpaceX had built rockets before, NASA was involved in actually sending them into space.

This time, the rocket launch was all SpaceX and boy was it a roaring success! Not only did Falcon Heavy launch spectacularly, but the rocket’s twin boosters landed almost perfectly in sync upon touching back down on planet Earth. And best of all, the rocket did its job and launched Mr. Musk’s Tesla Roadster into space.

via SpaceX

Yep—there will now be a Tesla Roadster orbiting the sun for hundreds of millions of years. Why launch a car into space? No real reason, but according to Mr. Musk, “It’s kind of silly and fun, but silly and fun are important.”

Elon Musk sure has grand plans, including eventually sending people to Mars. But for now, it’s a car, floating around the sun for eternity, with a mannequin driver donning a spacesuit.

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